The state Education Department on Monday directed a Minnesota charter school to "correct" two areas related to religion at the school.
Tarik ibn Zayad Academy, which focuses on Middle Eastern culture and shares a mosque with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, came under fire after a teacher alleged that the school was offering religious instruction in Islam to its students. "The Minnesota Department of Education goes to great lengths to make clear to charter schools and their sponsors that, while schools should appropriately accomodate students' religious beliefs, they must be 'nonsectarian' under the state's charter school law," said the state's education Deputy Commissioner Chas Anderson.
The allegations first surfaced after an article by a columnist for the Star Tribune. The Education Department subsequently began a review of the suburban Inver Grove Heights school and released its findings Monday. The agency said it was concerned about the school, with about 300 students, accommodating communal prayer and providing transportation to an after-school religious program. "We have directed the school to take appropriate corrective actions regarding these matters and will continue to provide oversight to ensure that the school is in compliance with state and federal law," Anderson said.
In an attempt to report about the new findings from the Department of Education, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS went to TiZA. While on school grounds, our crew was attacked by school officials. The two men were able to grab our camera and kept it until police arrived. Our photographer was treated by paramedics after suffering minor injuries. Notice the Moslem clothes the children wear and how the photographer was attacked and camera goes black. This is a Public School paid for by your tax money.
What began as a peaceful screening of the documentary, “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West”, Monday afternoon at Columbus (Ohio) State Community College turned to shouts and intimidation as Muslim students confronted students in attendance and Islamofascism Awareness Week event organizers. The video screening was part of Columbus State’s Islamofascism Awareness Week activities hosted by the campus chapter of the Terrorism Awareness Project (TAP), which runs through Wednesday.
According to TAP president Josiah Lanning, commotion began during the first screening of the documentary film and continued to escalate throughout the afternoon. According to Lanning, an individual who identified himself as an Iraqi Muslim began loudly arguing with audience members. After continuing to disrupt the discussion period following the screening, the individual complained that the group was allowed to show the film and warned Lanning not to show the film again.
Three screenings of the Fox News documentary, “Jihad USA: Homegrown Terror” are planned for today (Tuesday), and screenings of both “Obsession” and “Jihad USA” planned for Wednesday afternoon.
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Rancid Fanatic is Featured Campus Speaker for the Muslim Students Association
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
If an organization stood accused of supporting a fanatical religious movement that seeks to create a global empire wherein women are oppressed, homosexuals are executed, and all faiths other than Islam are expressly outlawed, would that group try to discredit such accusations by providing a public forum for an individual who proudly and vocally embraces precisely those ideals? Yes, if that organization was the Muslim Students Association (MSA), which recently commissioned a religious bigot and apologist for terror named Sheikh Khalid Yasin to speak on its behalf.
During the first week of April, the MSA invited Yasin to appear at five college campuses -- Minnesota State University, St. Cloud State University, Sinclair Community College, the University of Minnesota, and Washington State University -- to rebut charges about the organization’s countenance of religious bigotry and Islamic terror.
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